George Washington Carver --Agricultural Scientist and Inventor of Many Uses of Peanuts and Sweet Potatoes

 

 

George Washington Carver
(1860s – January 5, 1943)

He was an American agricultural scientist and inventor. He actively promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion.

While a professor at Tuskegee Institute, Carver developed techniques to improve soils depleted by repeated plantings of cotton. He wanted poor farmers to grow alternative crops, such as peanuts and sweet potatoes, as a source of their own food and to improve their quality of life.


Carver invented numerous products from sweet potatoes, including edible products like flour and vinegar and non-food items such as stains, dyes, paints and writing ink. 
In all, Carver developed more than 300 food, industrial and commercial products from peanuts, including milk, Worcestershire sauce, punches, cooking oils and salad oil, paper, cosmetics, soaps and wood stains. He also experimented with peanut-based medicines, such as antiseptics, laxatives and goiter medications